Talahan V
Talahan V was a dense jungle world in orbit around Eta Cassiopeiae A, one of a pair of binary stars star 19.42 lightyears. It was located in Earth's universe. from Earth. The planet was the site of a moderate-sized war known as the Talahan Conflict that ranged from 3229 to 3234. During this war, rebels who were originally corporate miners and prospectors fought against their company overseers. The company called for UNSC intervention, which they recieved. Officially the war began in 3229, but unofficially, small bush wars involving the UNSC were occuring well before this, roughly 3210. It was only when these conflict became large enough to essentially involve the whole society, then it gained notice from Earth. Planetary Discription Talahan V was a wet and jungle ridden world. The age of the planet was roughly 8 billion years, which meant that it was older than Earth. Original planetary exploration forces in the 23rd Century dubbed the planet 'Eta Cassiopeiea b' as a simple identifier for the world. The planet is the second in its orbit and the third smallest of five with the only smaller ones being Mercury-sized worlds orbiting at breakneck speed around the sun. Talahan got its present name after the planet was purchesed by the Talahan Mining Corporation in 2415. The company had a habit of numbering every planet they bought, which explains why this world is the only one named Talahan, while all the others have some form of the star's title in their names. Talahan has a group of three moons named Imran, Jesh, and Ludda that take three, one, and two months to orbit respectively. Because of the differeing speeds, Talahan V faces erratic tides that cause storms, adding to the already saturated atmosphere of the planet. The vast part of Talahan V's surface is covered in thick jungles with twisting trees that were thought to actually be alive themselves. Human beings were said to get progressively more tired the longer they spent in the jungle through spores in the air. Whether this was because of the flora or the fauna is not known. There were areas though where the jungles and the humidity lightened up. In the farther north where the air was cooler, dense jungle gave way to deciduous trees and even temperate taiga forests. Farther than that, and the only plant life one would see would be trapped under the permafrost. It was hypothesized that tens of thousands of years in the past, Talahan V underwent some sort of runaway greenhouse process causing millions of tons of CO2 to become trapped and heat up the atmosphere. Eventually, all that could be melted and transformed was, and all that was left was a swampy ball of a planet. Three large continents cover the planet: Luxor, Highlandshire, and Fratelli with the latter being the most temperate. This is also where most cities were. The plant life on the planet's surface was supercharged by the climate. It wasn't uncommon for many trees to reach over seventy meters in height. In some areas of the planet, especially Highlandershire, there were trees known as 'Mangroves' which were common in the swampy continent. These trees could reach almost five hundred feet in height if not more. Their trunks were nearly a hundred feet across to accomodate for the weight. These trees were so large that whole buildings were carved into their interiors. Various creatures lived on the surface of the planet. Due to the dense jungle heat that occured for most of the year, any animal living here would have to make for burrows at the peak time of the day unless they were specifically adapted to body heat. In addition, any creature on this planet would have heat efficient lives. Most of them are predatory though with the worst of the bunch being the Ropetongue. History Pre-Discovery It was believed that the planet used to be much cooler in the past before a runaway greenhouse effect ran across the planet, locking in gasses that caused temperatures to rise. Original survey teams did not locate evidence of a civilization on the planet, and the presence of numerous dormant and/or extinct volcanoes over hot spots. This suggested that the planet's transformation was completely natural. After the radical transformation of the planet's ecosystem, brand new animal adaptations took place. Maintaining body heat was very important in such an environment. Some animals developed senses that helped them locate other animals that had higher or lower temperatures than the ambient environment they lived in, similar to how a snake can sense body temperature. Also like a snake, animals on Talahan V were sensitive to vibrations. The Ropetongue, pictured above, would be able to locate its prey through vibration and noise. As a tradeoff, many of the animals can be repelled by loud sounds. The Forerunners, it seems had no interest in Talahan. For all the years that it had been known to the greater galaxy, no ruins exist either above or below the surface. Some speculate that mettalurgical analysis suggest that there's a structure in one of the ocean basins, but if that was the case, it would be billions of years old. Well older than the Forerunner civilization. Discovery & The Human-Covenant War In 2299, Researchers officially discovered the planet. Prior to this, scans of the worlds did exist, but in seeing the planet, there was a confirmation by eye. Eta Cassiopeiae was one of the first expeditions by the fleets that followed the Odyssey in 2290. The planet, as the surveyors found, was rich in titanium, silicates, and iron; all of which were excellent construction materials. The planet was officially settled on March 12th, 2340 after extensive mining operations conducted from orbit. The first colonists were miners and agriculturalists that took advantage of the planet's perma-tropical climate. Earth crops could take very well to the volcanic soil and only one in thirty harvests could be considered a failure. Even then, other settlements would come up with produce. For a while, Talahan V was considered a 'free' world. It flew under the banner of the UEG for almost five hundred years. The governments that controlled the planet formed a United Nations-style collective of government to help dictate laws and governance all over the planet. It wouldn't be hard as no major cities existed on the whole planet. Citizens lived separate from one another usually. Small cities of about 10,000-20,000 existed in clusters. Throughout the Human-Covenant War that lasted from 2525-2553, Talahan V was glossed over by the Covenant. Thankfully the population size was so small it was easy for people to hide from the alien threat. The wost that the system got was when a Covenant strike team passed through the system to regroup. Desparate for their lives, the citizens of Talahan ceased communication on the planet for about an entire month until they knew it was safe to talk to one another again. Category:Planet Category:Locations Category:Planet Category:Locations